


Ethereal

by Lkz092



Series: Epitome [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 10:43:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lkz092/pseuds/Lkz092
Summary: e·the·re·al/əˈTHirēəl/adjectiveExtremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world.





	Ethereal

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I make any mistakes!!!

Oscar doesn’t remember much important stuff when he was younger than the age of six. Most of it was him learning how to do the very basics at the farm. He’s pretty sure at that age, he gained his first scar on his right hand. Not much significance when you’re a kid.

 

The only memory that holds significance is when he went outside almost right before sunset to check the progress on the roses he was growing, and instead he was met by a flashing bug in the very center of the biggest one.

 

_“Aunt Amy, what are these?” He asked, getting on his knees to get a closer look._

 

_Amethyst Pine, who had followed behind him, saw the light and immediately chuckled. “Those are fireflies, dear.”_

 

_“I’ve never seen them before!” Oscar yelled excitedly._

 

_“They don’t come out very often,” Amethyst said._

 

_“That’s so cool!” Oscar continued to yell._

 

_“Yes they are, their little butts light up, it’s the only kind of bug that can do that,” Amethyst explained, making Oscar giggle. “Go catch one!”_

 

_Oscar looked around, eyes widening to see many more lighting up in their yard. He got off of his knees to catch one. After a couple seconds of running around, he finally managed to capture one in his hands. “I got one, Aunt Amy!” He screamed._

 

_“Let’s see!” Oscar opened his hands slightly to see a light emerge from it. “That’s awesome, buddy! Try to capture as many as you can!” Amethyst encouraged, clapping his back._

 

_Oscar spent about ten minutes attempting to catch them, both failing and succeeding, even tripping a couple of times, but by the end of his game, he’s breathing heavy with a smile on his face, and then sun had set. Amethyst did nothing but watch, and she smiled once Oscar had run out of energy and joined her on the porch._

 

_“You know, many people find fireflies to be signs of good luck, with the way they light up,” Amethyst said. “You light up my world,” She teased Oscar and poked him._

 

_Oscar giggled. “You’re silly. You light up my world too!”_

 

_Amethyst smiled brightly. “Hopefully, you’ll keep finding those people. Let’s go inside, I’ll find you a book about them so you can reach about them.” She gestured for him to follow her, and they walk in._

 

Has he found those people? He’s not sure. The line between Oscar and Ozpin is so very blurry, no matter how the others try to reassure him. How can he find them when they don’t truly see him as Oscar?

 

It’s three in the morning, and he’s making hot chocolate. Aunt Amy tried her hardest, but he was never able to acquire the taste for coffee. He does love other hot beverages though, because they usually make him sleepy.

 

As he puts his mug of hot chocolate (well, technically it was cold chocolate. God, Yang would definitely laugh at that) in the microwave to warm up, he goes through cabinets of Saphron and Terra’s kitchen. He’s tempted to stay up and make them breakfast, just to do something nice. They’re well off, but he knows it’ll cut into their budget a bit to feed so many of them. He could at least let them sleep a little bit longer. If Adrien lets them, of course.

 

As he’s searching, he noticed the microwave about to go off, and he quickly rushes to open it before it goes off. He doesn’t want to wake up the entire household by the incessant beeping of a microwave.

 

After he gets his hot chocolate out, he hears a door open. He tries to stay still, but unfortunately, the floor likes to creak. He hears a small gasp, and he doesn’t move as footsteps slowly make their way downstairs, closer to him.

 

“Oh God,” He can’t stop himself from saying as a light suddenly beams on his face, making him flinch.

 

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry!” The light from a scroll turns off, leaving the only light to be from the small ones plugged in above the counter. “Oscar, what are you doing up?”

 

Oscar squeezes his eyes for a second, trying to will the spots dancing in his vision to go away. Once they disappear, he’s able to dimly see Ruby in her pajamas, looking very guilty.

 

“Just- hanging out,” He finally answers a couple of seconds. “Getting blinded and stuff.”

 

Ruby moves closer to him. “I’m sorry, I thought you were a murderer or something!” She explains.

 

“Yet you came without your weapon?” Oscar asks. They both knew she was improving on fighting hand-to-hand, but nowhere close to being as good as with a weapon.

 

“Okay, maybe I don’t have a lot of skill in hand-to-hand, but I do have fists, speed, and will.” She crosses her arms. “You didn’t really answer my question. Why are you up?”

 

“I just woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep,” Oscar answers. “What about you?”

 

“I just wanted to get a glass of water, but whatever you have seems more appealing,” Ruby says, eying the mug on the counter.

 

Oscar knows he might regret this later, but he ignores it anyways. “You can have it, if you want. It’s just hot chocolate, haven’t touched it so…” He trails off.

 

He feels his heart skip a beat at the way her face brightens. “Really? Oh my gosh you’re the best!” She exclaims, and Oscar quickly puts his finger to his mouth, making her hush.

 

After a few seconds of silence, he sighs. “Sorry, I just didn’t wanna wake anyone up,” Oscar says sheepishly.

 

“No, it’s okay,” Ruby shrugs it off easily. “I get very excited over sweet things, if you couldn’t tell.”

 

_God_ , the amount of purity and goodness she has warms his heart. “I mean, I did see the way you danced around when we got sandwiches the first night we were here.”

 

“The only time I’ll get more excited than that is when I see my dog.” Ruby says, smiling a bit.

 

It’s very easy to forget that while they’re on a mission (to find an idea) to save humanity, there’s not much he knows about Ruby personally. _Why is she so much younger than her team? Where is her mom and dad? Why don’t her and Yang look alike at all?_

 

“Dog?” Oscar inquires.

 

“Yeah, my little Zwei. He’s a corgi, and he’s keeping my dad company while we’re out doing this,” she explains, taking a sip of the hot chocolate.

 

“Your dad really let you leave to go on this mission?” Oscar asks incredulously. Whenever he returns to his aunt, he know he’s gonna be beaten into the ground. Not before he gets cried on, though.

 

She laughs as she scratches the back of her neck. “No, actually. I just kind of... did it. Left a note. Yang said he dropped the plate of food he was going to bring me when he saw I wasn’t there, and he was mad, but he realized that he still has a daughter who still needs to be taken care of.”

 

“So where did you… come from?” Oscar cringes at his wording. “I mean- where are you from?”

 

Ruby gestures for him to follow, and they move to the living room, and he tries to sit a good distance away from her that isn’t awkward, but she moves closer, so much closer and he can feel his heart speeding up and the body heat from her legs.

 

“Yang and I grew up in Patch, which is a little island off of the coast of Vale. Both my dad and Qrow teach at Signal Academy, which is basically where you start if you wanna become a huntsman or huntress. Even if I didn’t want to be a huntress, there was no way I was getting out of it.” She jokes.

 

“I was wondering actually, how did you end up going to Beacon so early? I mean, you’re only sixteen, right? Not to mention you’re the team _leader,”_ Oscar asks, containing his awe.

 

“Yeah, turned sixteen a couple of months ago. We celebrated by me pretending I had a cake and blowing out a lighter. Not ideal, but it was more than I expected,” Ruby shrugs sheepishly. “And yeah, I’m still not sure how I’m the leader, but there’s nothing I’d rather do.”

 

Oscar smiles. “That’s amazing.”

 

She smiles back, not being able to conceal it. “Ozpin had a reason for choosing me, I guess. One of his many choices that I don’t understand.” She says, smile dropping as she speaks but she doesn’t look sad.

 

“I have so many questions for him, but I think I’d confuse myself even more, if I’m honest.” Oscar looks down at his lap.

 

“I shouldn’t have mentioned him, I’m sorry.” Ruby has a guilty look on her face.

 

Oscar looks up at her, and rushes to erase her upset expression. “No, it’s okay. You’ve got memories of him. I imagine you knew him better than I did.”

 

Ruby lets out a small laugh. “Well clearly neither of us know him very well.” She sighs for a second, and then she moves to wrap her arms around Oscar’s left one. “You asked about how I got into Beacon early, do you wanna hear about it?”

 

Oscar takes a few seconds. His eyes are wide, looking down at her arms wrapped around his, such a large contrast between their skin tones. They both have shirts without sleeves, so it’s very easy to feel her heat without a layer. “Y-yeah, I do, how’d that happen?” He finally asks, blinking rapidly and breathing deeply to calm himself.

 

“Well, I was at a little store in town. It had a lot of random things in it, like snacks, cigarettes, comic books, and dust,” She starts, looking out at the table in front of them.

 

“So basically a rest stop on a highway, except without dust stations for cars?” Oscar asks.

 

Ruby looks at him to shoot him a little grin. “Pretty much.” She brings her legs up, having them bent in front of her. “I was just reading one of the comic books with my headphones on, and some guy just taps me on the shoulder and he’s trying to rob me. I end up having to fight him and some other guys. The person running it, his name is Torchwick, tried to get away, and I ran after him, but he was working with Cinder. One of the teachers from Beacon showed up and fought them, but they got away. Glynda, the teacher, brought Ozpin to me and we started talking. I found out he knew Qrow, and from there I was accepted into Beacon.”

 

“That’s incredible.” Oscar can’t put how impressed he was into words. “Who’s Torchwick? We haven’t seen him, have we? Is he still out there?”

 

Ruby chuckles at his concerns. “No, at the battle of Beacon a Grimm killed him. He stole an aircraft and I got on there. He kicked my butt, I’m sad to admit. My aura was gone, and he just kept hitting me with his cane. Right before he hit me again, a Grimm flew up on the aircraft and ate him,” She snapped her finger. “just like that.”

 

Oscar looks at her, mouth gaping just a bit. “That’s…”

 

“Anticlimactic, I’d say.” Ruby says.  “A big bad villain monologuing his victory, and then gets eaten by a bird. He had a sidekick, though, that fought better than he did, and she’s probably everyone else’s age, but smaller than Nora. I’m more scared of her,” She continues, smiling just a bit.

 

“You think she’s still out there?” He asks her.

 

“Yeah, she probably thinks I killed him.” She answers. “But we have more to worry about than her.” She takes one arm away from Oscar to reach the table, where the hot chocolate was sitting.

 

As she’s taking large gulps, Oscar opens his mouth. “What exactly happened to you guys?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“In Brunswick.”

 

Ruby stops drinking and set her cup down slowly. “It was something I never thought I could experience. Nothing like that at Patch, at Signal, or even Beacon. You know, I noticed something was wrong right when we were outside. All of you looked so blank. You looked so tired, and your eyes were dilated.

 

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling hopeless too, but when I was about to drop the lamp, I saw two red eyes, and it snapped me out of it. We went down, and it was all dirty, damp, and dreary. Blake told me to turn off the flashlight on my scroll, and with it off, we were able to see the light of the lamp around a corner. I went and grabbed it, and then all of a sudden, there were Grimm moaning and groaning and there were so _many._ We were gonna fight them, but they all just wailed, and then my ears were ringing, and we couldn’t lift our weapons because they felt like they weighed a ton.

 

“Maria snapped us out of it, though. We ran until we found a door, but it was locked, and they were surrounding us. Yang ran to bust it open but then they wailed again and we were on the ground. Blake was closest to them, and I told her to get up, but she couldn’t- she _wouldn’t_ get up. One of the Grimm was about to grab her and then I activated my silver eyes and a bunch of them died. It wasn’t enough though, because another wave of them came.”

 

Ruby tightens her grip on Oscar’s arm, and puts her head on his shoulder. Oscar wills himself to not have his heart race even more, and to not interrupt her horrifying story while he’s having a stupid crisis over a stupid crush.

 

“Maria came up to me and asked what color my eyes were. She started talking to me, and said to think about the people who love me, about how life is precious, and it must be protected. Her words got to me. I activated my powers again, and this time, we actually managed to recover enough to escape.” She finishes, her eyes closed.

 

Oscar is silent for a few seconds, and he suddenly gets a burst of confidence. His hand moves to Ruby’s right one, and he slowly grabs on, interlocking their fingers together. “I don’t think you understand how you continue to amaze me.” He says slowly, gauging her reaction carefully.

 

She opens her eyes and raises her head to face him. She doesn’t look mad, nor does she take her hand away from his. Instead, she looks confused.

 

“What?” She finally speaks.

 

Oscar bites his lip, not sure where to start. “You’ve gone through so much. Your school is taken over by villains out of comic books, you watched people die, you’re so far away from home, and I can tell you’re so stressed-“

 

“I don’t-“

 

“But you’re still here. You’re leading this with such an optimistic attitude and no one else here would be able to match that. You speak your mind and you’re so determined.” He paused to take a breath. “After our talk in the training room in Mistral, I talked to Ozpin. He told me that you possess something so unquantifiable.”

 

Ruby is looking at him with an open mouth and a lost look in her eyes. “What…-“

 

“He said you have a spark, and you inspire everyone even at the worst times. I don’t think that any of us would be half as successful if we didn’t have you, or maybe not even alive after the Brunswick farm ordeal.” Oscar continues. “You’re just so incredible.”

 

Ruby is quiet. She’s got the same expression on her face, and doesn’t change it for a while. After a couple seconds of them staring at each other, (Oscar pleading with himself, ‘ _don’t look away damnit’)_ she closes her mouth. “You really think so?” She finally says, in a voice so small, so delicate, so utterly _ethereal._

 

“I do.” Somehow, Oscar doesn’t struggle to get his answer out. Even if he did, he would’ve said it a million times if that’s how many times she needed to hear it.

 

She smiles. She keeps smiling, until its lighting up her face completely. Her eyes and nose are scrunched up, her cheeks are a happy pink, and her teeth shine even in the dim light of the nightlight in the living room.

 

“Thank you,” Ruby whispers, and she hides her face in Oscar’s arm. “You don’t know what that means to me.”

 

And he doesn’t, he’ll reluctantly admit. He doesn’t know how often she gets praise, or credit, or anything. It doesn’t matter though, because he would tell her that everyday if he could.

 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had hot chocolate, forgot how it makes me relaxed,” She admits after a minute or two of sitting in silence. Oscar laughs at the coincidence. “You laugh, but you don’t know of my abilities. I’m like a puppy. I can fall asleep in any position, so if you don’t say something, I’ll fall asleep right here.” She says defiantly.

 

Oscar keeps laughing. “I worked on a farm my entire life, dawn until dusk. Do you really think I always made it back to my bed before passing out everyday, and I didn’t just lay down wherever?”

 

Ruby sees that she’s been defeated and looks displeased. “It looks like I underestimated you instead.” She admits, before changing her expression to look cheerful. “Don’t change the fact that I’m gonna fall asleep right here, though.” Oscar misses the warmth of her hand as she lets go, but dismisses that thought as she wraps her arms around his torso, leading him to put an arm over her shoulders.

 

“You’re warm,” Ruby comments as she puts her head in the crook of his elbow.

 

Oscar feels his face burn. In response, he tightens his grip on her, leans his head on hers and closes his eyes.

 

Despite not being able to have any hot chocolate and the unfamiliar presence, he doesn’t have a hard time falling asleep. He’s comforted, warm, and hopeful.

 

Yeah, this is what aunt Amy meant.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is gonna be a little series, hopefully I can keep up with it. I’m all about Rosegarden being innocent, with Oscar’s crush on Ruby being pure and soft, so that’s where I got the inspiration.


End file.
